Process of making fuel-briquets.



A. M. MITCHELL.

PROCESS OF MAKING FUEL BRIQUETS.

PPLIQATION 171L111) 00112, 1910.

1,029,022, I Patented June 11,1912.

witness c5 fijmfoz U). GEM/hull.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.)

ABDON M. MITCHELL, OF FLUSHING, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

OF ONE-HALF TO KATE M. WIDMER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF MAKING FUEL-BRIQUETS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 11, 1912. Application filed October 12, 1910. Serial No. 586,678. 1 a

To all ivhom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, ARDON M. MITCHELL,

\ a citizen of the United States, residing at useful improvements in processes Flushing, in the county of Queens and State of'New' York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Fuel- Briquets, of

which the following is a specificat1on.. I

This invention relates to certain new and of making fuelbriquets and the primary object of the invention is to provide for the manufacture Fii2 is a top plan view.

of fuel briquets by a process which renders them immediately available for use after withoutfirst being aged.

Figure 1 .is a side elevaan apparatus deand completion,

In the drawings: tion partly in section of signed to practice the present invention,

carrying out the process, a base is employed which may be composed either of coal dust, or what is commercially known as coke breeze, or it-may be constituted of a combination of the two in which event from 5 to 10% of coke breeze is used with the remainder of the base composed of coal dust. The mass composing the base is then 6, at its mixed with a colloidal solution, such as 'silicate of soda or potash, to render it cohesive. This mass is placed in a hopper 1, which communicates with and is supported by a cylinder or barrel 2. The cylinder is supported by and suitably secured to standards 3, and hasan internal diameter and cross which reciprocates with the piston in the cylinder. A connecting rod 9, is pivoted to the guide 8, a't its inner end, and at its outer end is pivoted drive shaft 11. Shaft 11', .isfsuitably driven, as by a drive wheel 12, and belt 13. Disk 10 has a series :of apertures 14 therein which are located.at'differentrdistances from the centerof-the disk, in order to allow f-the ex- I tentfof for the. length of the distance to a disk 10, carried on a traveled by the piston to be varied as desired, in an obvious manner.

Located to one side of hopper 1, is a tank 15, containing a crystalloidal solution, a pipe 16, leading from the tank and into cylinder 2 to the front of hopper l. A rotary valve 17, is located in pipe 16, and has a stem 18, to which is rigidly secured a vertical arm 19. Ann 19 is operated through the medium of a connecting rod 20,.pivoted at one end thereto and at its opposite end being .connected to a crank 21 on the drive shaft 11, by virtue of-which the rod is given a reciprocating movement. I

The crystalloidal solution, contained in tank '15, may be calcium chlorid or magnesia, which will at once react upon the soluble silicate. As .a result of this reaction, calcium silicate is precipitated out, forming a superficial coating on the compressed mass. Dialysis then begins, the calcium chlorid passlng through the above mentioned coating and reacting on the colloid, i. 6., the silicate of soda or potash forming'calcium silicate and chlorid of soda or potash. This chlorid passes out by exosmosis into the calcium chlorid solution. The above reactions will have the efi'ect of causing a cohesion of the neutral particles by crystalline cementation thereof. A portion of the mass of carboniferous matter saturated with a colloidal solution as above described, will, on the return or idle stroke of the piston, cylinder or barrel 2, since the cut-01f plate 6, which virtually forms a bottom for the hopper at that time be withdrawn from its normal or closed position, at the same time the rod 20 moving synchronously with pit: man rod 9, rocks arm 19, and thereby the rotary valve 17, opening the latter and allowing the solution in tank 15, to flow into cylinder 2, through pipe 16, the fluid being disposed between the mass which has just entered the cylinder 2, and the previously formed briquet marked A in-the drawings.

-On its working or return stroke the piston compresses the mass which has just entered the barrel 2, causing the crystalloidal solution to saturate the mass, and, in cases where suflicient solution has been admitted to thebarrel, the mass will force the solution to assume the form of a body of liquid fallinto the I as depicted at B inthe drawings. In the case last noted the opposite faces of the formed briquets, it will be seen, are maintained in contact with the solution until the discharge end of the barrel is reached, the completed briquets in the barrel being moved progressively at intervals determined by the length of time elapsing between the working strokes of the piston. Obviously by. varying the length of the piston stroke, the thickness of the briquets will be accordingly varied. It willthus be seen that in the course of travel of the briquet through barrel 2, ample time is given the crystalloidal solution to penetrate and harden the briquets, this hardening being an obvious'desideratum, since it prevent-s disintegration both in handlingand during combustion. The chemical reaction which sets in results .in the formation of a coating of silicate of calcium on opposite sides of each briquet through which chlorid or sodium passes out by exosmosis, which will cause the briquets to separate upon reaching the end of the barrel, in cases where the briquets are brought into contact with each other in their passage through the barrel as distinguished from their separation by the'bodies of liquid. Obviously the briquets in passing through the barrel will contact, in cases where by design or otherwise, buta small quantity of the crystalloidal solution is admitted at each retrograde or idle stroke of the piston, or' where the briquets absorb the solution in their passage through the barrel prior to reaching the discharge end thereof.

The object of providing a base composed of coal dust and coke breeze is to render the briquet more concrete by filling the voids with abrasive material and by increasing the tensile strength of the briquetto withstand rough usage and handling.

It will be obvious that by ivoting the front end of the rod 20 in the different perforations provided for this purpose, in the arm 19, that the throw of the rotary valve 17 will be varied, thus permitting control of'the amount of crystalloidal solution which is admitted into the barrel. It will furthermore beseen that the adhesive properties of the colloidal solution with which the base is saturated will, when the briquets are formed therefrom, cause the latter to adhere to the interior of the barrel 2, thus setting up resistance to the passage of the formed briquets through the barrel, thereby providing a substantial rigid surface against which the piston compresses the charge of the base admitted into the barrel. The fill ing of the voids with coke breeze increases the thermal value of the briquets, and ofisets the antagonistic thermal properties of the inorganic binder.

What is claimed is:

1. A process of making fuel briquets which consists in mixing a colloidal solution with a carboniferous base to cause cohesion of the.particles thereof, forming the mass thus treated into a row of successive briquets and simultaneously moving said row in one direction, and introducing bodies of crystalloidal solution between successive briouets during their formation.

2. A process of making fuel bri uets which consists in mixing a liquid bin ing agent with a suitable basic mass, forming the. mass thus treated into a row of successive briquets, and introducing a hardening agent in a liquid state between each completed briquet and the succeeding briquet before the formation of the latter has been completed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARDON M. MITCHELL. Witnesses:

MAE C. CONNOR, Boron A. RUEss. 

